Replacement proposal system

Abstract

To realize replacement proposals for durable consumer goods at appropriate timing according to situations.SOLUTION: A replacement proposal system having a user terminal 1 and a home appliance management apparatus 3 capable of communicating with a home appliance 2, comprises: a status information collection unit 32 for collecting log data indicating an operation status of the home appliance 2; a situation analysis unit 33 for using the collected log data to identify unused functions in the home appliance 2 as home appliance characteristics; a home appliance specification unit 34 for searching for home appliances that do not have the home appliance characteristics; a replacement proposal unit 35 for identifying a replacement candidate home appliance based on the searched home appliances and creating proposal information including the replacement candidate home appliances; and an output unit 17 for displaying the proposal information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a technique for supporting replacement of durable consumer goods, such as so-called home appliances, by suggesting replacement purchases. [Background technology]

[0002] Durable consumer goods need to be replaced due to their useful life. For this reason, a technology has been proposed that suggests replacement to users. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a technology that suggests a replacement of a refrigerator taking into account the user's intentions. Specifically, Patent Document 1 describes that "based on the replacement history of one or more other home appliances used by the user of the target home appliance that is the subject of the replacement suggestion, performance deterioration of the target home appliance, changes in the user's family, the classification of the area in which the target home appliance is installed, or the replacement history of home appliances of other users who use the same environment as the user, the time to make the replacement suggestion for the target home appliance is specified. The suggestion unit suggests the replacement of the target home appliance at the time specified by the specification unit." [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2022-165775 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Here, when it comes to replacing durable consumer goods, it is necessary to reflect the user's circumstances, such as changes in lifestyle, as well as their intentions and tastes. To achieve this, it is necessary to acquire the user's circumstances in a timely manner. However, in Patent Document 1, the timing of the replacement suggestion is determined according to the number of years of use (FIG. 6). As a result, even if the user's circumstances change, the replacement suggestion will not be made until it is time to do so. Therefore, the objective of the present invention is to realize replacement suggestions at appropriate times according to the user's circumstances. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention collects situation information indicating the status of users and durable consumer goods such as home appliances, analyzes the collected situation information, and suggests replacement of durable consumer goods with characteristics suitable for the user.

[0006] More specifically, the replacement proposal system has a user terminal and a home appliance management device capable of communicating with home appliances, a status information collection unit that collects log data indicating the operating status of the home appliances, a status analysis unit that uses the collected log data to identify unused functions in the home appliances as home appliance characteristics, a home appliance identification unit that searches for home appliances that do not have the home appliance characteristics, a replacement proposal unit that identifies home appliances that are candidates for replacement based on the searched home appliances and creates proposal information including the replacement candidate home appliances, and an output unit that displays the proposal information.

[0007] The present invention also includes a replacement suggestion system having a user terminal and a home appliance management device capable of communicating with a home appliance, the replacement suggestion system having an output unit that displays questionnaire information about the characteristics of the home appliance, a situation information collection unit that collects questionnaire responses indicating responses to the questionnaire information, a situation analysis unit that extracts negative responses that are negative responses about the characteristics of the home appliance from the questionnaire responses and identifies home appliance characteristics corresponding to negative functions indicated by the extracted negative responses, a home appliance identification unit that searches for home appliances having the home appliance characteristics, a replacement suggestion unit that identifies home appliances that are replacement candidates based on the searched home appliances and creates proposal information including the replacement candidate home appliances, and an output unit that displays the proposal information.

[0008] Furthermore, the present invention also includes a replacement suggestion system having a user terminal and a home appliance management device capable of communicating with a home appliance, the replacement suggestion system having a situation information collection unit that collects user management information, which is information regarding the user of the home appliance, a memory unit that stores the collected user management information, a situation analysis unit that, when the user management information stored in the memory unit is updated, identifies home appliance characteristics corresponding to the updated information, which is the updated user management information, an appliance identification unit that searches for home appliances having the home appliance characteristics, a replacement suggestion unit that identifies home appliances that are replacement candidates based on the searched home appliances and creates proposal information including the replacement candidate home appliances, and an output unit that displays the proposal information.

[0009] Furthermore, the present invention also includes replacement proposals made by the replacement proposal system, and each of the devices and subcombinations that constitute the system. Furthermore, the present invention also includes a program for implementing the replacement proposal method by these devices and for causing each of the devices to function as a computer, and a storage medium that stores the program. Effect of the Invention

[0010] According to the present invention, it is possible to realize replacement suggestions for durable consumer goods at appropriate timing depending on the situation. Cut. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] 1 is a system configuration diagram of a home appliance management system according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 2] 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of a user terminal 1 in one embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] 2 is a functional block diagram relating to an information processing function of a home appliance 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Figure 4] 3 shows situation information 361 used in one embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 5] 1 shows home appliance information 362 used in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of a home appliance management device 3 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Figure 7] 11 is a flowchart showing a replacement suggestion process in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8] 11 is a flowchart showing a replacement suggestion process in the first embodiment. [Figure 9] 13 is a flowchart showing a replacement suggestion process in the second embodiment. [Figure 10] 13 is a flowchart showing a replacement suggestion process in the third embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below. In this embodiment, home appliances will be described as an example of durable consumer goods. For this reason, in this embodiment, a home appliance management system that manages home appliances, which is one implementation of the replacement suggestion system of the present invention, will be described. Note that in the present invention, the function of managing home appliances can be omitted from the replacement suggestion system. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of the home appliance management system in this embodiment.

[0013] The home appliance management system of this embodiment includes a user terminal 1, various home appliances 2, and a home appliance management device 3. These are connected to each other via a router 5 and a network 6. Furthermore, they are preferably connected to each sales counter device 4. However, of these, the user terminal 1 and the home appliance management device 3 are not essential components, and only one of them may be used.

[0014] For this reason, as shown in FIG. 1, the user terminal 1 and the home appliance management device 3 each have the same configuration (units), but it is sufficient that at least one of the devices has these. In the following, the user terminal 1 and the home appliance management device 3 work together to execute the replacement suggestion process, but the division of processing among these devices is one example and is not limited to the following explanation. For example, the process may be executed by only one of the devices. For this reason, the home appliance management system in this embodiment can be configured with the home appliance 2 and at least one of the user terminal 1 and the home appliance management device 3.

[0015] The configuration of this embodiment will be described below. In Fig. 1, a vacuum cleaner 21, a microwave oven 22, a washing machine 23, and a refrigerator 24 are illustrated as examples of home appliances 2. These are used by a user and his / her family. Then, the operating status of these home appliances 2 is collected, and replacement suggestions are made based on this.

[0016] Each device for the replacement suggestion process will be described below. First, the user terminal 1 is used by a user who uses the home appliance 2, and has a function of managing and operating the home appliance 2. For this purpose, the user terminal 1 has a communication unit 11, a situation information collection unit 12, a situation analysis unit 13, a home appliance identification unit 14, a replacement suggestion unit 15, an input unit 16, an output unit 17, and a memory unit 18. The communication unit 11 has a function of communicating via the router 5 and the network 6 and a function of short-range wireless communication. As a result, the user terminal 1 can communicate with the home appliance 2, the home appliance management device 3, and the sales counter device 4.

[0017] Furthermore, the situation information collection unit 12 collects situation information indicating the situation of the user and / or the home appliance 2. Here, the user may include related parties such as the user's family. The situation information also includes various attributes including the operating status of the home appliance 2, in particular the frequency of use of each function, survey results for the user, and the user's lifestyle such as address. These will be described in each embodiment described later.

[0018] Furthermore, the situation analysis unit 13 analyzes the collected situation information and determines whether the functions of the home appliance 2 deviate (are insufficient or excessive) from characteristics corresponding to the user. Here, the functions corresponding to the user refer to functions, specifications, etc. that are in line with the situation of the user or the home appliance 2. For example, a small refrigerator would be suitable for a single person. This determination may include identifying the degree of deviation. Furthermore, the situation analysis unit 13 can also be realized as a situation change detection unit that detects a change in the situation using the situation information.

[0019] Furthermore, the home appliance specifying unit 14 specifies a home appliance that satisfies this discrepancy. Furthermore, the replacement suggestion unit 15 creates home appliance suggestion information to be suggested to the user, based on the specified home appliance.

[0020] The input unit 16 also accepts various operations from the user. These operations include inputting a questionnaire about the home appliance 2 and inputting user information such as the user's membership information. The output unit 17 also outputs information about the proposed replacement home appliances. This output may be a display on a screen or may be an audio output from a speaker. The storage unit 18 also stores information used for processing in each of the above-mentioned units. In this embodiment, at least one of situation information 181, home appliance information 182, and situation-characteristic correspondence table 183 is stored.

[0021] Next, an example of the implementation of the user terminal 1 will be described. Fig. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of the user terminal 1 in this embodiment. In Fig. 2, the user terminal 1 has a touch panel 101, a processing device 102, a communication device 103, and a storage device 104, which are connected to each other via a communication path.

[0022] First, the touch panel 101 is configured to function as both the input unit 16 and the output unit 17 in Fig. 1, and receives instructions and operations from the user, and displays various information such as potential replacement home appliances. The touch panel 101 may be configured as an input device and an output device. The processing device 102 can be realized by a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and executes calculations according to a home appliance management program 105 stored in a storage device 104 described later.

[0023] 1, and communicates with each home appliance 2, the home appliance management device 3, the sales counter device 4, etc. This communication may be performed via a router 5 or a network 6, or may be performed directly via short-range wireless communication or the like.

[0024] 1, and stores home appliance management program 105, situation information 181, home appliance information 182, and situation-characteristic correspondence table 183. However, some of these may be omitted and these functions may be implemented in home appliance 2 or home appliance management device 3. Storage device 104 may be realized by a main storage device such as a memory and a secondary storage device (storage medium) that is a so-called storage. The secondary storage device may be realized by an external HDD (Hard Disk Drive), SSD (Solid State Drive), memory card, or the like.

[0025] Moreover, the home appliance management program 105 is composed of, for each function, a situation information collection module 106, a situation analysis module 107, a home appliance identification module 108, a replacement suggestion module 109, a home appliance purchase module 110, and a control command creation module 111. Each of these modules may be realized as an individual program or a partial combination.

[0026] Here, the configuration shown in FIG. 1 that executes the same functions as each module is as follows. Situation information collection module 106: Situation information collection unit 12 Situation Analysis Module 107: Situation Analysis Section 13 Home appliance identification module 108: Home appliance identification unit 14 Replacement suggestion module 109: Replacement suggestion section 15 Note that the home appliance purchase module 110 and the control command creation module 111 are optional and are not shown in FIG. 1, but may be provided as a home appliance purchase unit or a control command creation unit. Here, the home appliance purchase unit notifies the sales counter device 4 and the home appliance management device 3 of a purchase instruction, and can realize the purchase of a potential replacement home appliance. For this reason, the home appliance purchase module 110 can be realized as a so-called mail order application in addition to the home appliance management program 105. Also, the control command creation unit creates a control command for controlling the operation of the home appliance 2, and the home appliance 2 creates a control signal based on this and executes various operations.

[0027] Therefore, the processing device 102 executes the processes of the situation information collection unit 12, the situation analysis unit 13, the home appliance identification unit 14, and the replacement suggestion unit 15, as well as the processes of the home appliance purchasing unit and the control command creation unit, in accordance with the home appliance management program 105.

[0028] Here, the home appliance management program 105 may be realized as a management program (application) for each home appliance 2, or may be realized as one function of a program (integrated application) that manages each home appliance 2. The situation information 181, home appliance information 182, and situation-characteristic correspondence table 183 stored in the storage device 104 will be described later.

[0029] Next, the configuration of the home appliance 2 will be described. Here, the configuration of information processing common to each home appliance 2 will be described. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram related to the information processing function of the home appliance 2 in this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the home appliance 2 has a control unit 201, a communication unit 207, a display operation unit 208, an operation unit 209, and a detection unit 210. These are connected to each other via a communication path. Each component will be described below.

[0030] First, the control unit 201 creates and outputs a control signal for realizing the functions of the home appliance 2, such as cleaning, cooking, laundry, and refrigeration, and controls the operation of the home appliance 2. For this purpose, the control unit 201 has a control signal creation unit 202, a log data collection unit 203, a log data analysis unit 204, a home appliance identification unit 205, and a replacement suggestion unit 206. The control signal creation unit 202 creates a control signal for executing the operation of the operation unit 209 in accordance with an operation from the user or a control command from the user terminal 1 or the home appliance management device 3.

[0031] Furthermore, the log data collection unit 203 collects log data, which is an example of situation information, indicating operation of the home appliance 2. In this way, the log data collection unit 203 corresponds to the situation information collection unit 12, and may collect situation information other than the log data.

[0032] Furthermore, the log data analysis unit 204 analyzes the collected log data and determines whether the functions of the home appliance 2 deviate (are insufficient or excessive) from characteristics suitable for the user. In this way, the log data analysis unit 204 corresponds to the situation analysis unit 13, and may analyze situation information other than the log data.

[0033] Moreover, the home appliance identifying unit 205 corresponds to the home appliance identifying unit 14, and identifies a home appliance that satisfies the identified discrepancy. The replacement suggestion unit 206 corresponds to the replacement suggestion unit 15, and creates home appliance suggestion information to be proposed to the user based on the identified home appliance. Note that the log data collecting unit 203 to the replacement suggestion unit 206 may be omitted because the corresponding configuration exists in the user terminal 1. Note that the control unit 201 can be realized by an MPU (Micro-Processing Unit), and each of the control signal creating unit 202 to the replacement suggestion unit 206 can be realized by dedicated hardware or software such as a program. Furthermore, the control unit 201 may store at least one of situation information, home appliance information, and a situation-characteristic correspondence table.

[0034] The communication unit 207 also has a function of communicating via the router 5 and the network 6 and a function of short-range wireless communication. The communication unit 207 communicates with the user terminal 1, the home appliance management device 3, and the sales counter device 4. As a result, the communication unit 207 notifies each device of collected log data and receives control commands from the user terminal 1 and the home appliance management device 3.

[0035] Furthermore, the display operation unit 208 receives operations for the corresponding home appliance 2 from the user and outputs various information related to the operation. The operation unit 209 operates according to the control signal created by the control signal creation unit 202. Furthermore, the detection unit 210 detects and acquires log data indicating the operation status of the corresponding home appliance 2.

[0036] 1, the configuration of the home appliance management device 3 will be described. In this embodiment, the home appliance management device 3 executes a replacement suggestion process in cooperation with the user terminal 1 and the sales counter device 4, and is operated by a manufacturer or a distributor of the home appliance 2. For this reason, the home appliance management device 3 has a communication unit 31, a situation information collection unit 32, a situation analysis unit 33, a home appliance identification unit 34, a replacement suggestion unit 35, and a storage unit 36.

[0037] First, the communication unit 31 has a function of communication via the router 5 and the network 6 and a function of short-range wireless communication, and communicates with the user terminal 1, the home appliance 2, and the sales counter device 4. Also, the situation information collection unit 32 to the replacement suggestion unit 35 have the same functions as the situation information collection unit 12 to the replacement suggestion unit 15 of the user terminal 1, respectively.

[0038] The storage unit 36 ​​also stores situation information 361, home appliance information 362, and situation-characteristics correspondence table 363. These will be described below together with the situation information 181 and home appliance information 182. First, the situation information 361 will be described. FIG. 4 shows the situation information 361 used in this embodiment. The situation information 361 is information indicating the situation of a user and the home appliance 2 used by the user, and has, for example, the following items. In the example of FIG. 4, the situation information 361 has the items of address (floor plan), household, age, family, and used home appliance for each user. Note that the situation includes the user's lifestyle, such as their requests (needs) and usage method (how to use).

[0039] For a user, the user's name and nickname are recorded. In addition, items such as a user ID, such as a membership number, and a password may be set as items for identifying the user. Furthermore, the address (floor plan) records the address of the user and the floor plan of the house. For the household, the household type of the user is recorded. For example, a general household other than a single person or a single person is recorded. For the age, the age of the user is recorded. Furthermore, for the family, the family members of the user are recorded.

[0040] Here, each item from user to family may be managed independently as user management information such as membership information. Also, each item from address (room plan) to family can be managed as an attribute of the corresponding user. These items, especially attributes, are merely examples and are not limited to these.

[0041] The item of used home appliance records identification information that identifies the home appliance owned and used by the user. Note that this identification information is preferably capable of identifying the individual home appliance 2 as well as its model. Each used home appliance has items of characteristics, log data, questionnaire responses, and unused functions. The characteristics of the home appliance, such as its standards, specifications, and functions, are recorded.

[0042] The log data indicates the operation status including the operation details of the home appliance, and is recorded as log data collected from the home appliance, etc. Note that the log data may be the acquired data as is, or the acquired data may be compiled or summarized at regular intervals and recorded.

[0043] The questionnaire responses indicate responses from users to a questionnaire about the relevant home appliance 2. As shown in the figure, the questionnaire responses can be about points of dissatisfaction (points requiring improvement), points of satisfaction, and functions that users would like to see added. Note that the questionnaire responses can be any format as long as they are impressions or opinions about the home appliance 2.

[0044] Moreover, the unused functions indicate functions that are not used during a predetermined period (cycle) among the functions of the corresponding used home appliance. Note that the survey results and unused functions are items specific to the embodiment described later and can be omitted. Furthermore, the used home appliances and unused functions may be managed independently as home appliance status management information.

[0045] Here, the situation information 181 has the same items as the situation information 361, but is data limited to the user of the user terminal 1 that stores it.

[0046] Next, the home appliance information 362 will be described. Fig. 5 shows the home appliance information 362 used in this embodiment. The home appliance information 362 is information indicating attributes such as specifications of the type (model, etc.) of the home appliance. Therefore, the home appliance information 362 has items such as characteristics, recommended users (attributes), and sales period for each home appliance (model).

[0047] First, the home appliance (model) records information that identifies the model of the target home appliance. Furthermore, the characteristics of the home appliance (model) such as its standards, specifications, and functions are recorded as the characteristics. Furthermore, the recommended user (attributes) indicates the attributes of the user who recommends the home appliance (model). Furthermore, the sales period indicates the time when the sales of the home appliance (model) began. Note that it is desirable to delete or invalidate home appliances that are no longer on sale from the home appliance information 362. Furthermore, it is desirable for at least a part of the home appliance information 362 to be stored in the sales counter device 4 or the user terminal 1.

[0048] Here, the home appliance information 182 is information having the same items as the home appliance information 362, and is preferably the same type of data as the home appliances used by the user of the user terminal 1 storing it.

[0049] Moreover, the situation-characteristics correspondence table 363 is information showing the correspondence between situation information and characteristics of the home appliance such as corresponding functions and specifications. The situation-characteristics correspondence table 183 is similar information.

[0050] Next, an example of the home appliance management device 3 will be described. Fig. 6 is a hardware configuration diagram of the home appliance management device 3 in this embodiment. In Fig. 6, the home appliance management device 3 has a processing device 301, a communication device 302, a memory 303, and a secondary storage device 304, which are connected to each other via a communication path.

[0051] First, the processing device 301 can be realized by a processor such as a CPU, and executes calculations according to a home appliance management program 305 stored in a sub-storage device 304, which will be described later. The home appliance management program 305 will be described later.

[0052] 1, and is connected to the network 6 to communicate with other devices. The memory 303 and the secondary storage device 304 correspond to the storage unit 36 ​​in FIG. 1. The memory 303 expands the home appliance management program 305 stored in the secondary storage device 304 and information used for processing by the processing device 301. The secondary storage device 304 can be realized as a so-called storage device, and stores the home appliance management program 305, situation information 361, home appliance information 362, and situation-characteristic correspondence table 363. The secondary storage device 304 may be realized as various storage media such as an external HDD (Hard Disk Drive), SSD (Solid State Drive), or memory card, or the home appliance management device 3 may be realized as a separate device such as a file server.

[0053] Here, the home appliance management program 305 is composed of a situation information collection module 306, a situation analysis module 307, a home appliance identification module 308, a replacement suggestion module 309, and a sales module 310, for each function. Each of these modules may be realized as an individual program or a partial combination.

[0054] Here, the configuration shown in FIG. 1 which performs the same functions as each module is as follows. Situation information collection module 306: Situation information collection unit 32 Situation Analysis Module 307: Situation Analysis Section 33 Home appliance identification module 308: Home appliance identification unit 34 Replacement suggestion module 309: Replacement suggestion section 35 1, the sales module 310 may be provided as a sales department. The sales department executes a sales process for a replacement home appliance in response to a purchase instruction from the user terminal 1. This sales process includes sales processing by the manufacturer or distributor that operates the home appliance management device 3 and intermediate processing with the sales counter device 4.

[0055] Therefore, the processing device 301 executes the processes of the situation information collection unit 32, the situation analysis unit 33, the home appliance identification unit 34, the replacement suggestion unit 35, and the sales unit in accordance with the program. Note that the information stored in the secondary storage device 304 has been explained above, so the explanation thereof will be omitted here.

[0056] Next, returning to Fig. 1, the sales counter device 4 will be described. The sales counter device 4 is a device that realizes a so-called online store. The sales counter device 4 is a device for selling products such as home appliances 2, and can be realized by an EC server 41 that operates an e-marketplace, an online store server 42 of a single company, or the like. Note that the EC server 41 and the online store server 42 have many common or similar functions, so their functions will be described as the sales counter device 4.

[0057] The sales counter device 4 executes sales processing of the home appliances 2, their parts, and consumables in response to the purchase processing at the user terminal 1. In particular, the sales counter device 4 can execute half-sale processing of the home appliances proposed in the replacement suggestion processing. Note that the sales counter device 4 can be realized by a general computer (for example, a server), so a detailed description of its configuration will be omitted.

[0058] The router 5 is a device that mediates communications between the user terminal 1 and the home appliances 2, but may be omitted. The network 6 connects the above-mentioned devices and can be realized by a wide area network such as the Internet or a combination of the wide area network and a local network.

[0059] The above is the explanation of the configuration of this embodiment, and the replacement proposal process using this configuration will be explained. Figure 7 is a flowchart showing the replacement proposal process in this embodiment. In the following, the processing subject of the replacement proposal process will be explained using the configuration of the functional block diagram shown in Figure 1.

[0060] In step S1 of FIG. 7, the situation information collecting unit 32 of the home appliance management device 3 collects situation information of the home appliance 2 via the communication unit 31. To this end, for example, in the home appliance 2, the detection unit 210 detects the home appliance situation of the home appliance, and the log data collecting unit 203 collects it as log data, which is an example of situation information. Then, the communication unit 207 notifies the home appliance management device 3. Note that the collection of the log data may be executed via the user terminal 1. As another example of the situation information, the situation information collecting unit 32 may collect, as the situation information, a questionnaire response to the home appliance 2 from the user terminal 1 or obtain a user attribute in the situation information 361. Then, the situation information collecting unit 32 updates or registers the collected situation information in the storage unit 36.

[0061] Furthermore, in step S2, the situation analysis unit 33 determines whether there has been a change in the collected situation information. Here, the situation information collection unit 32 periodically collects situation information, and the situation analysis unit 33 can determine whether there has been a change by comparing previously collected situation information with the most recently collected situation information. Also, when new situation information is collected, such as when a new questionnaire response is received, it is determined that there has been a change. If the result of this determination is that there has been a change (Y), the process proceeds to step S3. If there has been no change (N), the replacement suggestion process is terminated.

[0062] In step S3, the situation analysis unit 33 identifies the characteristics of the home appliances corresponding to the changed situation information. For example, when the layout of the residence changes due to the user moving, the characteristics of the home appliances corresponding to the number of rooms and the size are identified. In the case of a vacuum cleaner, the specifications, such as for xx tatami mats corresponding to the size of the room, are identified. At this time, the situation analysis unit 33 may identify the characteristics of the same type of home appliance as the used home appliance recorded in the situation information 361 in a limited manner. Furthermore, since it is assumed that a new home appliance will be required due to moving, the situation analysis unit 33 may identify the home appliance and its characteristics that are not recorded in the used home appliance. In this step, the situation analysis unit 33 identifies the characteristics using the situation-characteristics correspondence table 363. In this step, the function of the home appliance may be identified using the home appliance information 362, and in addition to or instead of this, information held by the sales window device 4 may be used.

[0063] Furthermore, in step S4, the situation analysis unit 33 identifies the home appliances used by the user. That is, the home appliances recorded as used home appliances in the situation information (each of the home appliances 2 in the example of FIG. 1) are identified. Then, in step S5, the situation analysis unit 33 compares the characteristics identified in step S3 with the characteristics of the used home appliances identified in step S4 to determine whether there is a discrepancy. Here, a discrepancy means that the difference is equal to or exceeds a predetermined range, and includes both insufficient and excessive characteristics after the change. As a result, if there is a discrepancy (Y), the process proceeds to step S6. If there is no discrepancy (N), the replacement proposal process is terminated.

[0064] In step S6, the home appliance identifying unit 34 identifies a home appliance that satisfies the deviation determined in step S5. That is, the home appliance identifying unit 34 identifies a home appliance having the characteristic identified in step S3, using the home appliance information 362. At this time, the home appliance identifying unit 34 may notify the sales counter device 4 of a search request for the relevant home appliance via the communication unit 31, and receive a search result from the sales counter device 4.

[0065] Then, in step S7, the replacement suggestion unit 35 identifies replacement candidate home appliances based on the home appliances identified in step S6, and creates proposal information including the identified home appliances. Furthermore, the replacement suggestion unit 35 notifies the user terminal 1 of the proposal information via the communication unit 31. Here, the replacement candidate home appliances may be the identified home appliances themselves, or may be home appliances narrowed down from the identified home appliances. Furthermore, the replacement suggestion unit 35 may notify any of the home appliances 2 of the proposal information.

[0066] The proposed information is then output to the output unit 17 of the user terminal 1 or the display operation unit 208 of the home appliance 2. As a result, the user can check the proposed information including the replacement candidates. In response to this, the user terminal 1 or the home appliance 2 can notify the sales counter device 4 of a purchase instruction for the home appliance selected by the user from the replacement candidates. At this time, the user terminal 1 may notify the purchase instruction through the replacement suggestion unit 15 or through a purchasing unit (not shown). Note that it is preferable that the purchase instruction is notified by specifying the replacement candidate included in the output proposed information.

[0067] As described above, in this embodiment, it is possible to realize an appropriate replacement proposal according to changes in the user and the situation of the home appliance, such as changes in lifestyle and the usage status of the home appliance. Then, the user can purchase an appropriate home appliance. This concludes the description of this embodiment, and below, each example, which is a specific example, will be described. EXAMPLES

[0068] Example 1 is an example in which log data is used as situation information to identify unused functions of home appliance 2. Details are described below, but since the configuration and information are similar to those of the above-mentioned embodiment, the processing flow is mainly described. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the replacement suggestion processing in Example 1. Below, the processing subject of the replacement suggestion processing will be described using the configurations of the functional block diagrams shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3.

[0069] 8, the detection unit 210 of the home appliance 2 regularly detects the operation status of the operation unit 209. In response to this, in step S202, the log data collection unit 203 collects log data indicating the detected operation status. Then, in step S203, the communication unit 207 notifies the home appliance management device 3 of the collected log data. This notification may be a notification of a collection of log data for each period, or may be a notification of appropriate log data for each collection.

[0070] In addition, in step S301, the communication unit 31 of the home appliance management device 3 accepts log data. In response to this, in step S302, the situation information collection unit 32 registers the accepted log data as log data of the corresponding home appliance in the situation information 361 of the storage unit 36. Note that the log data may be registered as information independent of the situation information 361. The above steps S301 and S302 correspond to step S2 in Fig. 7. For this reason, in the first embodiment, the situation information collection unit 32 functions as a log data collection unit that collects the log data.

[0071] In step S303, the status analysis unit 33 determines whether a predetermined period has elapsed. This step may be performed based on the amount of log data stored in the storage unit 36. If the predetermined period has elapsed (Y), the process proceeds to step S304. If the predetermined period has not elapsed (N), the process returns to step S301 and continues collecting log data.

[0072] In step S304, the situation analysis unit 33 compares the log data of each home appliance 2 to identify unused functions in the period. In this comparison, first log data, which is log data registered in the period, is compared with second log data, which is log data in the previous period. The second log data may be data for one period, such as the immediately preceding period, or a representative value, such as an average of multiple periods. In this comparison, the situation analysis unit 33 identifies the operation details of functions and the like used in the log data and their frequency of use, and compares these.

[0073] As a result, a function that meets any of the following criteria is determined to be an unused function. (1) A function whose operation details are only found in either the first log data or the second log data (especially only in the second log data) (2) The frequency of use of the first log data is lower than the frequency of use of the second log data, and the difference is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value. The frequency of use may be the duration of use or the number of times of use. If there are no unused functions, the process flow ends. If there are unused functions, the process proceeds to step S305.

[0074] Furthermore, in step S305, the situation analyzing unit 33 identifies the unused function as the home appliance characteristic of step S3 using the situation-characteristic correspondence table 363. These steps S303 to S305 correspond to step S3 in Fig. 7. The situation analyzing unit 33 registers the identified unused function (home appliance characteristic) in the situation information 361.

[0075] In step S306, the situation analysis unit 33 identifies the home appliances used by the user in the same manner as in step S4. In step S307, the situation analysis unit 33 determines whether the unused function indicated by the identified home appliance characteristics is a new unused function. To this end, the situation analysis unit 33 determines whether the unused function in step S305 has been registered in the situation information 361 in advance.

[0076] For this determination, a utilization ratio can be used. An example using a utilization ratio will be described below. A refrigerator 24 is used as the home appliance 2. In this case, an image of the interior of the refrigerator taken by a camera, which is the detection unit 210, is used as log data. As a result, if the free space is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount, it can be determined that there is an unused function.

[0077] Here, the reason for checking for new unused functions in step S307 will be described. First, as a premise, if there is an unused function, it is possible that the home appliance 2 has a function that is excessive for the user. If an unused function is known in advance, it can be determined that the unused function is ignored (there is no problem even if it exists). Therefore, in the first embodiment, if it is unregistered, that is, if there is a new unused function (Y), the process proceeds to step S308. If there is no unused function (N), the process flow ends.

[0078] However, if an unused function is known in advance, it can also be interpreted that the function has not been used for a long time. Therefore, this processing flow may be terminated when there is only a new unused function, and transition to step S308 may be performed when there is one or more registered unused functions. In this case, the processing from step S308 onwards is performed for the registered unused functions. Furthermore, these determinations may be combined. For example, if there is a new unused function or an unused function that has been registered for more than a predetermined period, transition to step S308 is performed. In this case, the processing from step S308 onwards is performed for the new unused function or the unused function that has been registered for more than a predetermined period.

[0079] The above steps S303 to S307 correspond to step S5 in Fig. 7. Therefore, the state analyzing unit 33 functions as a log data analyzing unit that analyzes log data or an unused function identifying unit that identifies unused functions.

[0080] In step S308, the home appliance identifying unit 34 searches for home appliances that have no unused functions. This process corresponds to step S6 in Fig. 7. In step S309, the replacement suggestion unit 35 identifies replacement candidate home appliances from the home appliances searched for in step S307, and creates proposal information including the identified home appliances. In step S310, the home appliance identifying unit 34 notifies the user terminal 1 of the proposal information via the communication unit 31.

[0081] Furthermore, the communication unit 11 of the user terminal 1 receives the notified proposed information. Then, the output unit 17 displays the received proposed information. This display allows the user to determine whether or not to purchase the proposed replacement home appliance.

[0082] As a result, when the input unit 16 receives a purchase instruction for a replacement home appliance, the home appliance purchase unit executes a purchase process. In the first embodiment, in step S102, the home appliance purchase unit notifies the sales counter device 4 of the purchase instruction according to the input via the communication unit 11. Then, in step S401, the sales counter device 4 executes a sales process according to the notified purchase instruction. Note that in step S102, the purchase instruction may be notified to the home appliance management device 3.

[0083] In the above embodiment 1, the unused function is used, but the excessive usage function may be used. An example of application to each home appliance 2 will be briefly described, including this point. First, in the case of washing machine 23, the excess amount of laundry (particularly weight) and the number of times are used as log data. In this case, in step S304, if the excess amount x the number of times is equal to or greater than a threshold, it is determined that there is an excess, and the processing from step S305 onwards is executed. Then, in step S308, a search is made for a home appliance that can handle the excess amount. As a result, it becomes possible to suggest replacing the home appliance that corresponds to the excessive usage.

[0084] An example of using an interior image of the refrigerator 24 will be described below. In this case, the interior image may be an image of the entire refrigerator 24, or an image of each compartment such as the freezer compartment, chilled compartment, etc. In the latter case, a replacement candidate for changing the compartment (room) can be identified.

[0085] Furthermore, defects such as errors and breakdowns may be used. In this case, in step S304, if the number of occurrences or frequency of defects is equal to or greater than a threshold, it is determined that a replacement suggestion due to the defect is necessary, and the processes in and after step S305 are executed. Then, in step S308, a search is performed for an appliance having the function in which the defect occurred. As a result, it becomes possible to suggest a replacement of an appliance that corresponds to excessive use. This concludes the explanation of the first embodiment. According to the first embodiment, it is possible to suggest a replacement of an appliance that is simpler and in line with the user's lifestyle by omitting excessive unused functions. EXAMPLES

[0086] In the second embodiment, responses to a questionnaire are used as situation information to identify insufficient or excessive functions (negative functions) of the home appliance 2. Details will be described below, but as with the first embodiment, the processing flow will be mainly described. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the replacement suggestion processing in the second embodiment. Hereinafter, the processing subject of the replacement suggestion processing will be described using the configuration of the functional block diagrams shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3. The questionnaire may be a question and answer session for the user, and is not limited to a questionnaire format in the narrow sense.

[0087] In step S311 of FIG. 9, the situation information collection unit 32 determines whether a condition for starting the survey is satisfied. The start condition includes whether it is a predetermined time including a period. For example, it is determined whether a predetermined period has passed since the relevant home appliance 2 was purchased. Furthermore, the condition may be the start of the home appliance 2 or a specific operation (such as opening and closing the door of the refrigerator 24). As a result, if there is a home appliance 2 that satisfies the start condition (Y), the process proceeds to step S312. If there is no home appliance 2 that satisfies the start condition (N), the process continues in this step. Note that in this step, the start condition may be different for each home appliance 2, or the start condition may be common to each home appliance 2.

[0088] Furthermore, in step S312, the situation information collecting unit 32 creates questionnaire information about the characteristics of the home appliance 2 that satisfy the start condition. This questionnaire information preferably includes information that allows responses to be made about opinions and impressions about the home appliance 2, such as dissatisfied characteristics (dissatisfaction points), satisfied characteristics (satisfaction points), and characteristics that are represented by characteristics desired to be newly added. Furthermore, in step S313, the situation information collecting unit 32 notifies the corresponding user terminal 1 of the created questionnaire information via the communication unit 31.

[0089] Furthermore, in step S103, the communication unit 11 of the user terminal 1 accepts the notified survey information. In response, in step S104, the output unit 17 displays the accepted survey information. As a result, the input unit 16 is able to accept responses to the survey information from the user. At this time, more preferably, it is possible to accept input of numerical values ​​indicating the degree of dissatisfaction, satisfaction, and functions desired by the user. Furthermore, dissatisfaction includes functions that are lacking in performance, such as accuracy, and functions that are excessive. Desired functions can also be expressed as functions that are lacking.

[0090] Then, in step S105, communication unit 11 notifies home appliance management device 3 of the accepted survey responses. Furthermore, in step S314, communication unit 31 of home appliance management device 3 accepts the notified survey responses. The above steps S311 to S314 correspond to step S1 in Fig. 7. Therefore, in the second embodiment, situation information collection unit 32 functions as a survey response collection unit that collects survey responses.

[0091] In step S315, the situation analysis unit 33 determines whether the received questionnaire responses include negative responses. Here, a negative response is a negative response, and in the above example, indicates dissatisfaction or desired characteristics or functions. More preferably, a numerical value indicating the degree of these functions that is equal to or greater than a predetermined value is used as a negative response.

[0092] As a result, if there is a negative response (Y), the process proceeds to step S316. If there is no negative response (N), the process flow ends. Then, in step S316, the state analyzing unit 33 extracts negative responses from the received questionnaire responses. The above steps S315 to S316 correspond to step S2 in FIG. 7.

[0093] 7. In step S317, the situation analyzing unit 33 identifies a negative function, which is a home appliance characteristic corresponding to the negative answer, as the home appliance characteristic in step S3, by using the situation-characteristic correspondence table 363. That is, step S317 corresponds to step S3 in FIG.

[0094] In step S318, the situation analysis unit 33 identifies the home appliance used by the user in the same process as in step S4. In step S319, the situation analysis unit 33 determines whether the identified home appliance can deal with the negative function. This determination is performed to take into consideration that some users do not necessarily understand all the functions of the home appliances they own and may have overlooked something. However, this step can be omitted. To execute step S319, the situation analysis unit 33 searches for characteristics corresponding to the identified home appliance in the home appliance information 362 and compares it with the characteristics corresponding to the negative answer. As a result, if it cannot be dealt with (N), the process transitions to step S320. If it can be dealt with (Y), the process transitions to step S323. This step S319 corresponds to step S5 in FIG. 7. Therefore, in the second embodiment, the situation analysis unit 33 functions as a questionnaire response analysis unit that analyzes the questionnaire responses.

[0095] Furthermore, in step S320, the home appliance identification unit 34 searches for the relevant home appliance, that is, a home appliance having a home appliance characteristic indicating a negative function. This process corresponds to step S6 in FIG. 7 and S308 in the first embodiment. Furthermore, in step S321, the replacement suggestion unit 35 identifies a replacement candidate home appliance from the home appliances searched for in step S320, and creates proposal information including the identified home appliance. This is the same process as step S309 in the first embodiment.

[0096] Then, in step S322, the home appliance identification unit 34 notifies the user terminal 1 of the proposed information via the communication unit 31. This is the same process as step S319 in the first embodiment. After that, processes similar to steps S101, S102, and S401 in the first embodiment are executed.

[0097] In step S323, the communication unit 31 notifies the user of the negative function. This usage can be identified by the situation analysis unit 33 by searching from the home appliance information 362. For this reason, the characteristics of the home appliance information 362 include information indicating the usage, such as an instruction manual.

[0098] Then, in step S106, the communication unit 11 of the user terminal 1 accepts the usage. In response to this, the output unit 17 displays the accepted usage. This is the end of the description of the second embodiment. According to the second embodiment, it is possible to suggest replacement of home appliances and usage of the currently used home appliances in accordance with the user's intentions and requests. EXAMPLES

[0099] In the third embodiment, the attributes of the user, particularly the layout of the residence, are used as situation information to identify functions that do not match the attributes. Details will be described below, but as in the first and second embodiments, the processing flow will be mainly described. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the replacement proposal processing in the third embodiment. In the following, the processing subject of the replacement proposal processing will be described using the configuration of the functional block diagrams shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3.

[0100] In step S324 of FIG. 10, the situation information collection unit 32 determines whether the start condition of this processing flow is satisfied. The start condition includes whether it is a predetermined time including a period. For the latter, the passage of a predetermined period of time since the relevant home appliance 2 was purchased can be used. As a result, if there is a home appliance 2 that satisfies the start condition (Y), the process proceeds to step S325. Also, if there is no home appliance 2 that satisfies the start condition (N), the process continues to this step. Note that in this step, the start condition may be different for each home appliance 2, or the start condition may be common to each home appliance 2.

[0101] Also, in step S325, the situation information collection unit 32 judges whether the situation information 361, particularly the user management information that is information about the user such as the user's attributes and membership information, has been updated. This judgment can be made by comparing with the situation information 361 in the immediately preceding cycle. Here, the above-mentioned situation information 361 is appropriately updated as necessary, and this update corresponds to step S1 in FIG. 7. Then, this step S325 corresponds to step S2 in FIG. 7. For this reason, in the third embodiment, the situation analysis unit 33 functions as a situation information monitoring unit. As a result of this judgment, if there has been an update (Y), the process proceeds to step S326. If there has not been an update (N), the process ends.

[0102] 7. In step S326, the situation analyzing unit 33 extracts situation information 361 (update information) such as updated user management information. In step S327, the situation analyzing unit 33 identifies the home appliance characteristic corresponding to the situation information 361 extracted as the home appliance characteristic in step S3, using the situation-characteristic correspondence table 363. In this way, steps S326 and S327 correspond to step S3 in FIG. 7.

[0103] Furthermore, in step S328, the situation analyzing unit 33 identifies the home appliances used by the relevant user through the same processing as in step S4 and step S318.

[0104] In step S329, the situation analysis unit 33 judges whether the identified use home appliance is suitable for the home appliance characteristic identified in step S327. This judgement judges whether the identified use home appliance is insufficient or excessive for the identified home appliance characteristic. Here, insufficiency indicates that the identified use home appliance cannot execute the identified home appliance characteristic at all, or is insufficient in quantity or quality. For example, this corresponds to a case where an air conditioner for a 6-tatami room is installed in a 12-tatami room due to a user moving. Furthermore, insufficiency also corresponds to the home appliance not being able to fit or be arranged in the new place.

[0105] Moreover, "excessive" means that the specified home appliance to be used would be wasteful in order to realize the specified home appliance characteristics. For example, when a user moves away from his / her family to work, a family-sized (large capacity) refrigerator would be over-specified. These can be determined using the situation-characteristics correspondence table 363 as described above.

[0106] Also, this determination can be omitted, similar to step S319 in Fig. 9. As a result, if it cannot be dealt with (N), the process proceeds to step S320. If it can be dealt with (Y), the process proceeds to step S323. This step S319 corresponds to step S5 in Fig. 7. Therefore, in the third embodiment, the situation analysis unit 33 functions as an attribute analysis unit that analyzes the attributes of the user.

[0107] Then, steps S320 to S401 are executed thereafter, as in the second embodiment. This concludes the explanation of the processing flow in the second embodiment, but in the third embodiment, electricity usage and charges may be used as the situation information 361. In this case, the home appliance management device 3 cooperates with a smart meter to acquire electricity charges and usage, and when these increase by a predetermined amount or more, a home appliance that consumes less power (has energy saving characteristics) is set as a replacement candidate. According to the third embodiment, it is possible to suggest replacement of home appliances suited to the user's environment, such as moving, and to suggest ways of using the used home appliances.

[0108] This concludes the description of each embodiment, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments and the above-mentioned examples. For example, the present invention can be applied to various durable consumer goods that provide functions to users, such as bicycles and automobiles other than home appliances. Furthermore, replacement includes changes in the durable consumer goods used, including changes in rental (lease). Furthermore, at least two of the embodiments may be combined to achieve the present invention. Furthermore, the processing entity in each embodiment is merely an example, and may be executed with other device configurations. [Explanation of symbols]

[0109] 1...user terminal, 11...communication unit, 12...situation information collection unit, 13...situation analysis unit, 14...home appliance identification unit, 15...replacement suggestion unit, 16...input unit, 17...output unit, 18...memory unit, 181...situation information, 182...home appliance information, 183...situation-characteristic correspondence table, 2...home appliance, 21...vacuum cleaner, 22...microwave oven, 23...washing machine, 24...refrigerator, 201...control unit, 202...control signal creation unit, 203...log data collection unit, 2 04...log data analysis unit, 205...home appliance identification unit, 206...replacement suggestion unit, 207...communication unit, 208...display operation unit, 209...operation unit, 210...detection unit, 3...home appliance management device, 31...communication unit, 32...situation information collection unit, 33...situation analysis unit, 34...home appliance identification unit, 35...replacement suggestion unit, 36...memory unit, 361...situation information, 362...home appliance information, 363...situation-characteristic correspondence table, 5...router, 6...network

Claims

1. A replacement suggestion system having a user terminal and a home appliance management device capable of communicating with home appliances, A status information collection unit that collects log data indicating an operation status of the home appliance; a situation analysis unit that identifies an unused function of the home appliance as a home appliance characteristic by using the collected log data; A home appliance identification unit that searches for a home appliance that does not have the home appliance characteristic; a replacement suggestion unit that identifies a replacement candidate home appliance based on the searched home appliances and creates proposal information including the replacement candidate home appliance; A replacement recommendation system having an output unit that displays the recommendation information.

2. In the replacement recommendation system according to claim 1 , The situation analysis unit compares first log data, which is log data for a given period, with second log data, which is log data prior to that period, to identify home appliance characteristics that are unused functions.

3. In the replacement recommendation system according to claim 2, The situation analysis unit is a replacement suggestion system that defines as an unused function (1) a function whose operation details exist only in the second log data, or (2) a function whose frequency of use in the first log data is lower than its frequency of use in the second log data and the difference is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold.

4. In the replacement recommendation system according to claim 1 , The situation analysis unit determines whether there is a new unused function; In the replacement suggestion system, when the new unused function is present, the home appliance identification unit searches for home appliances that do not have the home appliance characteristic.

5. A replacement suggestion system having a user terminal and a home appliance management device capable of communicating with home appliances, an output unit that displays questionnaire information about the characteristics of the home appliance; a situation information collection unit that collects survey responses indicating responses to the survey information; a situation analysis unit that extracts negative answers, which are negative answers about the characteristics of the home appliance, from the questionnaire answers and identifies the home appliance characteristics corresponding to the negative functions indicated by the extracted negative answers; A home appliance identification unit that searches for a home appliance having the home appliance characteristics; a replacement suggestion unit that identifies a replacement candidate home appliance based on the searched home appliances and creates proposal information including the replacement candidate home appliance; A replacement recommendation system having an output unit that displays the recommendation information.

6. 6. The replacement recommendation system according to claim 5, In the negative response, the customer's negative answer includes dissatisfied characteristics and desired additional characteristics for the home appliance.

7. 7. The replacement recommendation system according to claim 6, The situation analysis unit determines whether the negative function can be dealt with in the home appliance used by the user, If the problem cannot be solved, the home appliance identification unit searches for a home appliance having the home appliance characteristics.

8. The replacement recommendation system according to claim 7, Furthermore, the replacement suggestion system has a communication unit that notifies the user of how to use the negative function of the home appliance to be used if the negative function can be addressed.

9. A replacement suggestion system having a user terminal and a home appliance management device capable of communicating with home appliances, A situation information collection unit that collects user management information that is information about a user of the home appliance; A storage unit that stores the collected user management information; a situation analysis unit that, when the user management information stored in the storage unit is updated, identifies a home appliance characteristic corresponding to update information that is the updated user management information; A home appliance identification unit that searches for a home appliance having the home appliance characteristics; a replacement suggestion unit that identifies a replacement candidate home appliance based on the searched home appliances and creates proposal information including the replacement candidate home appliance; A replacement recommendation system having an output unit that displays the recommendation information.

10. 10. The replacement recommendation system according to claim 9, The situation analysis unit is a replacement suggestion system that identifies the home appliance characteristics corresponding to the update information using a situation-characteristics correspondence table.

11. The replacement recommendation system according to claim 10, The situation analysis unit determines whether a home appliance used by the user corresponds to a home appliance characteristic corresponding to the update information, If the home appliance is not suitable, the home appliance identification unit searches for a home appliance having the home appliance characteristics.

12. The replacement recommendation system according to claim 11, The replacement suggestion system further includes a communication unit that notifies the user of a method for using the home appliance characteristic corresponding to the update information in the home appliance being used when the update information corresponds to the home appliance characteristic.

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